10 Hacks to Have Happier Investors

We’ve crossed over 10,000 posts, podcasts, sessions, braindates, and answers on SaaStr, and we held off for a very long time on writing on most different VC tropes.  However I assumed it’d, in these instances when valuations have taken a success, and VC is beneath stress, to replace our “Prime 10” checklist of issues which might be comparatively straightforward to do, now, that may make your traders and board happier.

in case your traders by no means assist … or even when they’re driving you nuts … your life will nonetheless be higher and simpler if they’re happier.

So right here’s my checklist of Prime 10 Straightforward-to-Implement Solutions:

• Ship out Month-to-month Investor Updates — 48 Hours After the Month Ends.  That is your finest hack.  The important thing right here is to not spend a ton of time on it.  It’s best to already know your MRR, money burn, NPS, all of your key metrics virtually instantly after the month ends.  So ship it out!  Record your prime few key metrics (MRR, progress, money burn, NPS, and many others).  Do easy, clear bullets on What Went Nicely, What Didn’t, and The place We May Use Your Assist.  And ensure this Month-to-month Investor replace isn’t an enormous burden.  It has to cross the 20 Minute Check.  A fast, month-end replace shouldn’t take longer than 15-20 minutes to assemble.  Save that for board conferences, quarterly updates, and many others.

• Get Board Assembly Supplies Out 3 Days Earlier than the Board Assembly.  I do know, board conferences once more.  However your finest hack right here is to get the supplies out 3 days forward of time.  That instills big confidence in your traders.  The slides that don’t present up till the morning of the assembly?  Confidence destroyer.
• Have Readability on, and Share, your Zero Money Date.  It’s best to know precisely when you’re working out of cash … and replace that date each month or so.  Share it, so everybody is aware of and might plan accordingly.  Extra on that here.
• Have Your Staff Current Extra, and You Much less.  All-hands conferences, board conferences, at any time when.  Sure, you’re the CEO.  However everybody hears from you on a regular basis.  Your traders and others will be taught much more listening to about gross sales out of your VP of Gross sales, your CTO co-founder … and never you.  This additionally will make you look like a a lot stronger supervisor.  Particularly, don’t attempt to speak over your weakest VPs and managers.  As a substitute, backfill them and assist them current the perfect that they’ll.  It’s OK on your investor to see which leaders are stronger than others.  It’s good for them to know.
• Frequently Ask Your Traders How Joyful They Are on a Scale of 1-10.  At the very least, those you may want a second test from.  You don’t have to do that each week.  However be taught your Investor NPS.  When you ask for a agency quantity, you’ll get it.  And importantly, it doubtless will probably be totally different than you assume.  Asking at board conferences isn’t excellent — of us are usually a bit guarded in the event that they reply in entrance of a gaggle, and typically a bit overwhelmed with all the data from a board assembly.  Asking proper after might be higher.
• Transparency is Key, However Keep Constructive.  I type of made this error, as do many pushed founders I work with.  It’s straightforward to be self-critical.  But when your progress is OK, be certain that to have as many positives as negatives.  Even traders want optimistic reinforcement.  They want the reality, however each the great and the less-than-good.
• Make investments Extra Time In The “Heavy Lifter”.  VCs have this annoying time period of “heavy lifter”, by which they imply the one investor or board member that does many of the “work”.  As founders, you possibly can snicker at this, as if being an investor or board member is a lot work.  It isn’t, in comparison with a CEO.  However that apart, normally, one investor would be the one which helps you most recruit the crew, recruit extra capital, promote the corporate, be its greatest champion.  Don’t take this as a right.  Spend extra time with him or her.  She’s the one that may produce probably the most downstream advantages for you.
• Don’t Anticipate One other Test from Any of Them.  Simply assume none of your traders make investments once more.  This can de-stress plenty of relationships proper there.
• Deliver Your Traders Collectively.  Within the previous days, VCs frolicked in packs.  However there are 1,500+ new corporations simply previously few years alone.  And so many offers over the previous 2 years have been performed so rapidly, and over Zoom. This implies a lot of your traders by no means actually get to know one another.  There’s solely draw back for you there.  You need them to be aligned whenever you want one thing from them.  Do an “investor assembly” as soon as 1 / 4, even if you happen to don’t do board conferences.  It’s value it.  It’s essential deliver all of your groups collectively, a minimum of as soon as 1 / 4.  Exterior and inner groups.
• Most Importantly — Do Not Cover Unhealthy Information.  That is the #1 mistake I see.  Communication and updates tail off throughout robust instances.  That’s backward.  Skilled traders are OK shedding cash.  Skilled traders may even write off any given funding in the event that they need to.  What stresses them out are surprises.  Any dangerous information you’ve got, they’ve already seen earlier than in one other start-up.  Share it, and share it with out judgment.

This guidelines could appear considerably apparent, however do all these items, and your stress stage with traders will probably be decrease.  And most significantly, you received’t need to look over your shoulder.  Not understanding if you happen to can belief your traders is tense.  Take that out of the equation, and you’ll focus that vitality on extra productive issues.  Like rising sooner.

Observe: an replace of a traditional SaaStr submit